Blacklist Don't Ask If You Don't Want to Know

Disclaimer: I don't the Blacklist or any of its characters. If I did own it, Daddygate would be a thing of the past and we'd all already know what's behind the damn door.

Liz mused to herself that she'd always assumed traveling by private jet would be the ultimate way to travel around the globe hunting Blacklisters. What she never considered was that it could also be the most boring way to travel if your travel companions were not willing to chat during the long flights. Dembe was never going to be a great conversationalist with Liz. He'd loosened up a lot since the first time they met, but he was still more of the strong, silent type. What surprised her was that Red, the man had a story or anecdote for every situation, would spend these flights reading a stack of newspapers from around the world or conducting business on the phone for hours on end. Which meant that Lizzie spent hours staring at the clouds outside of the plane windows or watching some movie on her iPad that she'd seen multiple times. Lizzie was bored.

"Red?" Lizzie asked trying to get his attention.

"Yes, Lizzie," Red answered her distractedly as he looked up from The London Times.

"I'm bored. Can't we talk about something to pass the time?" Lizzie said with hopeful look on her face.

"Certainly, what would you like to talk about? Keep in mind my business outside of what I conduct with the FBI is off limits. As is certain aspects of your past. If you can find any other interesting topics I'd be more than happy to talk about them with you."

"I don't know, would you talk to me about some of your associates. I realize Newton Phillips is probably not someone you'd like to talk about, but you have so many people with different specialties at your fingertips. I think it would be fascinating to find out how you met such a wide variety of people. Would you be willing to share something like that with me?"

Red leaned further back in his seat and glanced quickly at Dembe before returning his gaze to Lizzie.

"There are certain associates whose stories are not mine to tell. Let me know who you'd like to talk about and I'll tell you whether I'm willing to share their story or not. If I decline that will be it, don't try to wheedle the story from me. Are you okay with that condition?"

"Of course! And, just to put both of your minds at ease, Ressler told me about the scar on your shoulder Dembe. While I'd love to know what Red did to earn your trust, I realize it is something I'm sure will be painful for you to talk about."

"Thank you Agent Keen. Perhaps one day I will be willing to discuss this with you. Just know the death of Floriano Campo has done a lot to heal the wounds her organization caused me." Dembe said, surprising her with the length of his response. This was the most she'd heard him say at one time in all the months she'd known him.

"I'd be very interested in hearing how you met Mr. Kaplan. I'd also love to hear why you call **her** Mr. Kaplan." Liz asked Red hoping that he'd be willing to discuss the enigmatic woman that seemed to have a close relationship Red.

A smile broke across Red's face. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind my sharing this story with you. It does start a long time ago. I first met Mr. Kaplan when she was assigned to work as my assistant in the Pentagon. She had entered the Navy to work as a medic, but someone decided that she was better suited to work in an office. Despite her disappointment in not being trained as a medic she excelled at her duties. I really didn't have much interaction with her in the first year or so she was in my office. Then we ended up working a long string of late nights. Every evening we had dinner delivered in and we'd spend that time talking. It was then that I learned that she had hoped to have a career in medicine. She had excelled in her under-graduate classes, especially in chemistry and biology at Baylor University. To get the money to attend medical school she'd enlisted in the Navy after the recruiter assured her that she'd be assigned as a medic. She was surprised to learn that the recruiter lied and she wasn't going to be assigned in any job in the medical field." Red paused to take a drink from his cup of tea.

"During our research for the project we'd been assigned we discovered some information that was very harmful to some very important and powerful men. I knew what we discovered could cause problems for everyone involved. I tried to get Kate, that is Mr. Kaplan's first name, transferred to one of the military hospitals in the D.C. area so she'd be safe from any actions those men might take. Unfortunately, I didn't act quickly enough. She found herself facing a dishonorable discharge. She would only qualify for benefits under the GI Bill if she was honorably discharged from the service. I couldn't believe that she had actually done anything to earn a dishonorable discharge. It turned out that Kate was the first of many sudden transfers or discharges from my department. I found out later that someone in the department had filed a report summarizing the information we'd discovered."

Red stopped speaking and simply stared into space for a moment. Lizzie felt that there was more to this story, but didn't want to push him. He seemed to come back to the present with a small jerk of his head and a small grimace. He looked Lizzie in the eyes and continued his story.

"The ensign that filed that report was killed in a single car accident on his way home from work. It wouldn't have been suspicious except that no one could figure out why he was on the road where the accident occurred, it wasn't on his way home. Then Kate was discharged with no hope of appealing the decision. I made it a point of checking in with her every week. I wanted to make sure she didn't have a suspicious accident as well. Then I was given another assignment that kept me out of contact with my family and friends. I was almost killed on the assignment that shouldn't have been dangerous at all. I got back to D.C. on Christmas Eve 1990." Red stopped and let the significance of the date sink in.

Lizzie sat there in shock. She had never heard any of this, but wasn't really surprised that these details escaped capture in the official history. She knew from experience that Red wouldn't share any details of that night, but she would take any details that he may let slip.

"Can I ask you a question and it has nothing to do with Christmas Eve?" Liz asked tentatively.

"Realize I may refuse to answer you, but you can ask me?"

"You said that Mr. Kaplan, Kate, didn't do anything that warranted a dishonorable discharge, what reason was given for her discharge?"

"Her discharge was in early 1990. This was before "Don't Ask Don't Tell" was put into affect. Apparently Kate was seen off base at a gay bar. This shouldn't have been enough to get her a dishonorable discharge, but someone reported that she'd been seen kissing another woman. That bit of gossip along with the desire to get her away from any data that had been collected was enough to get her kicked out. I had no idea she was gay, she never brought her personal life into the office."

"She wasn't joking when she said she was sleeping with that coroner's sister?" Liz asked surprised.

Red moved until he was sitting next to her on the couch. He sat in the corner with his arm slung along the back with his legs crossed at the knees.

"Does it surprise you that she's a lesbian Lizzie? She's very discreet with her assignations. During the 4 years that followed that Christmas Eve I continued to make contact with Kate. I felt bad about her missing out on the money she needed to attend medical school. I was making enough money to pay for her tuition to almost any medical school in the country. She chose Johns Hopkins. She graduated at the top of her class, but after a year as an intern she decided she'd rather do something in the medical field that didn't require interaction with patients, and more importantly no interaction with patient families. Kate applied at a number of coroner's offices along the Eastern seaboard to finish her internship there, but they all were looking for doctors not interns. She stuck it out and finished her last year as an intern. Then she took her newly minted license as a doctor and re-applied to the same coroner's offices that had rejected her a year earlier. They all rejected her again because she was a woman. Idiots!" Red said the last word with disdain.

Lizzie couldn't prevent a brief laugh from escaping her at Red's obvious scorn. "That still doesn't explain how she came to be your "cleaner". I'm sure she could have found a job doing research until some enlightened coroner or medical examiner hired her."

"She could have waited, but she was afraid her sexual preference would be discovered again and she'd lose her job once more. Lizzie you have to remember those times were less open to those who strayed from the sexual norm. Kate reached out to me to see if I could find her a job in another state or even a different country. I offered her a job with my organization. We needed help cleaning crime scenes before the police could arrive. She was very hesitant to agree to anything illegal. I asked her to try it once before giving me a final answer. As fate would have it I called her the next day to where two rival arms dealers had shown up at the same meeting. It didn't work out well for either group as I was there with my own men. I wanted her to remove the bullets and anything else that could be used to identify the dead men. She didn't even blink at the scene. She just dug the bullets out and used some type of mild acid on each of their fingertips to burn off their fingerprints. She did the same with their teeth." Red paused for another sip from his tea cup.

"So I take it she took the job and she's been doing it ever since." Liz said feeling she'd finished the story.

"Not exactly. After calling her to another location where the owner of the house decided to refuse to pay for the merchandise he'd been provided. He felt that since he didn't have the merchandise any longer that I would just have to walk away. Apparently that is what his other business associates did and he learned the hard way that I would not be leaving without my payment. I decided to keep the house to use as another safe house. You can never have too many safe houses. I asked her if she knew how to get the blood out of the rugs and walls without making the room smell of bleach. She said she didn't, but that she could probably find something that would work if she had access to a decent lab. I made sure she was given access to her own private lab. In a few weeks she discovered the cleaning mixture that would remove blood without damaging the surface of anything it was used on, it is truly an amazing discovery. She could have made a fortune if she'd patented the solution, but she reluctantly agreed to take the job I'd offering her previously. The reluctance disappeared when she found half a million dollars deposited in her bank account. I put her on a retainer that would quickly make her a millionaire, with the understanding that she would respond immediately to any calls she received from me or my associates. She agreed to take the job and she is still with me today." Red finished his story and let out a long sigh.

Lizzie realized that Red never explained why he called her Mr. Kaplan.

"Red, you forgot to explain why you call her **Mr.** Kaplan." Lizzie told him with an emphasis on Kate's title.

"Oh I did didn't I", Red said with one of the few genuine laughs Lizzie had heard from him.

"I decided to call her mister for a couple of reasons. First, it keeps her identity a secret until she actually arrives at a scene. It's always fun to see any new team members reactions when she first shows up at a scene. It's also fun to see them try to order her around. She shows her military training at those moments. If you think I'm dangerous, don't piss her off. She can make almost anything into a weapon. But, secondly, I call her mister because she is in a long term relationship. Kate is Mr. Kaplan and her partner is Mrs. Kaplan. They chose those titles and I call her what she wants to be called. Her partner is that same woman she was kissing in the bar that lead to her discharge from the navy. It was obviously meant to be since it's lasted this long."

Lizzie found herself laughing at Red. "Are you telling me you believe in true love or at least happily ever after?"

"I'm not sure I'd say I believe in either. They have worked hard to maintain their relationship. Kate often has to work long and odd hours. On the other hand she has a lot of free time and money enough to travel the world. What I will tell you is that they seem to genuinely make each other happy. I believe in happiness even when I personally don't experience it as often as I'd like."

Red looked away from Liz and spotted Dembe moving towards them from the cockpit.

"Raymond we will be landing within the next 10 minutes. A car is waiting for us next to the hanger." Dembe told him quietly. He then moved back to his seat and buckled himself in.

After buckling her own seat belt, she thought to herself that she'd need to figure out some other questions to ask Red on the flight back. He seemed more willing to let his guard down on his plane and indulged her curiosity more. Maybe she'll ask about this mysterious Mr. Vargas that has suddenly appeared on the scene. She's never seen him herself, but from what she's heard he's definitely odd enough to have a good story to pass the time on the flight home.


End file.

Blacklist, Drama